Cannot remove package

[idsfa]

$ sudo apt-get --purge remove aspell-en
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  aspell-en
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 53 not upgraded.
9 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 338 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 44, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in -e at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 46, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 47, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in -d at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 48, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 49, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
debconf: DbDriver "config": mkdir :No such file or directory
(Reading database ... 202645 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing aspell-en ...
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 44, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in -e at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 46, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 47, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in -d at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 48, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 49, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
debconf: DbDriver "config": mkdir :No such file or directory
Error running aspell-autobuildhash
dpkg: error processing aspell-en (--remove):
 subprocess installed post-removal script returned error exit status 25
Errors were encountered while processing:
 aspell-en
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Version: 7.1-0-1

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[idsfa (idsfa)]

I was able to determine that this was caused (in my case) by a mistake in my SSD optimizations of the filesystem. Certain parts of the /var tree were replaced with tmpfs filesystems and thus the contents were lost upon reboot. I missed /var/cache/debconf (I expect there is a whole flamewar that could go here about the appropriateness of configuration data being stored in /var).

I used the process from this thread on the ubuntu forums to rebuild my debconf database: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1823695

After this, I was able to perform upgrades again.

[Arie (arie-6)]

I can confirm the solution of idsfa. Thanks by the way.